Team USA vs. Team Portugal topped the deciding NHL Stanley Cup game and NBA/MLB clinchers

Remember when Team USA was still in the World Cup? Well, its second game — a tie versus Portugal that merely kept the country in contention for the knockout round — actually topped the deciding games of all other major American sports for the most recent season.

The only major sporting event that wasn’t beaten by the match, in fact, was the Super Bowl.

The U.S.-Portugal game was the most-watched soccer match ever aired in the U.S. The U.S. Portugal game had 24.7 million viewers — 18.2 million who watched on ESPN and 6.5 million who watched on Univision.

The country’s biggest TV event, the Super Bowl, had a record-setting 112.2 million viewers this year. Those gargantuan figures reflect not only the sport’s popularity, but are a testament to the strength that is the game‘s one-and-done format.

That game initially set the top overnight ratings number for ESPN. But according to later numbers, it finished second in viewers to U.S.-Portugal — which benefitted greatly from airing on a Sunday.

http://twitter.com/share?text=World Cup Shocker: Top Game Ratings Bigger Than World Series and NBA Finals&via=TheWrap&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewrap.com%2Fworld-cup-team-usa-portugal-world-series-nba-finals-stanley-cup%2F&t=World Cup Shocker: Top Game Ratings Bigger Than World Series and NBA Finalshttp://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewrap.com%2Fworld-cup-team-usa-portugal-world-series-nba-finals-stanley-cup%2F%2F&t=World Cup Shocker: Top Game Ratings Bigger Than World Series and NBA Finals